In today’s society, the Internet is one of the most important tools and
as the years have gone by more and more gadgets and gizmos have made
their way online. From smartphones and tablets to watches and shoes,
the Internet is creeping its way into consumer’s homes and owner’s
businesses in every which way possible.

With the migration of so many new devices going online the Internet of Things (IoT) was born.

The IoT has grown rapidly since its inception and in order to
successfully navigate the crowded marketplace, it’s important that
companies understand as much about the IoT as possible.

Keeping Up with the Industry

Bennet Levine, Research and Development Manager at Contemporary
Controls, recently attended a conference on IoT titled “Internet of
Things North America Conference” held by Remote Magazine. The
conference detailed a comprehensive look at the IoT including its
different subsets and areas of concerns for businesses and consumers
alike including IoT in building and industrial automation.

Among the topics of discussion within the conference was a subset of
IoT called the Industrial Internet of Things, or IIoT. The IIoT is
where industrial systems have their data sent to the cloud, which
according to Accenture, a management consulting services company, is
expected to add more than $14 trillion to the global economy by
2030 (https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-industrial-internet-of-things.aspx).
Another interesting topic at the conference was open source data, where
perhaps the most interesting discussion came from Jenny Tong of Google.
According to Tong, a variety of government agencies are open sourcing
their data and Google is providing search tools for users to openly
sift through the data.

Keeping Your Information Safe

However, the most discussed topic during the conference was security.
While the IoT is ever expanding, with new devices coming online every
day, it’s important to understand the risks associated with it.

While some devices like the Under Armour Speedform Gemini 2 smart shoes
do not contain or push any sensitive data to the cloud (sends information similar to) there are a variety of
products on the market that do deal with sensitive information, like
the Amazon Echo. The Amazon Echo not only lets users control their
other IoT devices (like lights and thermostats) but also lets them
order straight from Amazon using their default payment method.

"IoT security is a big concern. One fear is with the commercial
IoT products that they will be low cost and, therefore, have poor
security,” stated Levine. “This would then allow them to be taken over
by malicious individuals, and due to their large numbers, create a
storm of viruses and Trojans on the Internet.”

Bringing Contemporary Controls to the IoT

According to Levine, IoT device security is one of the many things
Contemporary Controls’ R&D division is taking into account as we
look to break into the IoT marketplace as well as what protocol
best suits our customers’ needs.

“We are testing using BACnet and Sedona in our soon to be released
BAScontrolZ for an IoT concept with standard BACnet client devices such
as Niagara Supervisors where the BAScontrolZ sends MS/TP points from
connected devices through firewalls to the BACnet client which is
located in the cloud,” stated Levine.

The BAScontrolZ, which will be displayed at Contemporary Controls booth
at Tridium’s Niagara Summit May 15-17, is a new product in the pipeline
here at Contemporary Controls. The BAScontrolZ sets itself apart from
our other Sedona controllers in a variety of ways. One way in which the
BAScontrolZ sets itself apart is that it has no physical I/O. Instead,
the BAScontrolZ’s Sedona application only controls I/O on other
connected BACnet/IP or MS/TP devices. Another way in which the
BAScontrolZ distinguishes itself from
other controllers is that it can act as a go-between for MS/TP
networks. Thanks to its MS/TP port and Ethernet port, the BAScontrolZ
can be used to pass information between MS/TP networks and BACnet/IP.

The Challenges are Worth It

While the IoT has many challenges associated with it, there are also
many benefits for businesses and consumers alike. We here at
Contemporary Controls hope to bring a new aspect to the IoT and hope to
make our customers lives a little easier.